Umberto's Friday

I used to do the Follow Friday and the Book Blogger Hop together before I lost track of the latter, but I've decided that today I'll focus just on the Book Blogger Hop which is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.
What is your favourite series that you've finished all the books (more than 3 books) to?


I am guessing this'll be a very popular answer this week, but of course I have to say Harry Potter. I've read all the books, or had them read to me, and I am absolutely in love with it. I don't think I realised it until the 6th book, but I really grew up with the series. I don't know whether they helped me cope with things as such, but they were always there as this kind of guide or inspiration. The same thing happened with the movies.

A series I am not quite sure counts are Carlos Ruiz Zafon's books from The Shadow of the Wind to The Angel's Game and The Prisoner of Heaven. I haven't read the last one yet and I think another one is coming up. I loved the first two and anything else Zafon writes, and since all the novels are interrelated, reading the others really helps understanding them.

This might be the moment to drop in another quick request. If anyone is interested in being part of the 'Chronicles of a Harry Potter Fan' blogtour, drop me an email at logisch.he@gmail.com.


I started reading Umberto Eco's 'The Island of the Day Before'. I am reading it in Dutch because it's Italian originally and that is a language I definitely cannot read. So the quotes below are my own translations. My dad loves his books and always told me to read this, so I started it on the train back to University yesterday. It's a whopper at almost 500 pages, but I am loving it so far.

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 by Freda's Voice.

BB:

'And still I rejoice in my humility and gain,since I am condemned to such a privilege,perchance pleasure in my horrid rescue:I am the only creature of our species that,I believe since the dawn of history,has been wrecked on an abandoned ship.'

It starts of with a part of a dramatic letter that the main protagonist writes to his unrequited love interest while being stuck on an abandoned ship. It is pretty good at showing Umberto Eco's writing style, where sentences are constantly interrupted and sometimes the main sentence is hardly found. It's like a puzzle and I love it! Translating this was a lot of fun!


F56:

'He wanted to forget the incident. For years he had pondered over an invisible brother, that night he thought he had seen him, but if he had seen someone (he told himself, in an attempt to contradict his heart with his head), that someone obviously was not imaginary, and since Ferrante was imaginary, that someone could not have been Ferrante.'

Ferrante is the main character's imaginary brother, or so he thinks because he seems to keep on popping up and making his life more complicated. His sentence structure is really complicated, so I doubt I have been able to portray the magnificence that Eco's writing style is, but I hope you enjoy it!

So, what have you picked for this week? Let me know in the comments or leave a link to your post :)